Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

The Dark Side Of Consensus And Creativity: What Mediators Of Mass Disputes Need To Know About Agency Risks, Howard M. Erichson

Fordham Law Review

This Essay looks at how mediators describe their role, and it asks whether—in negotiations to resolve mass disputes—the mindset and skill set of mediators may sometimes exacerbate rather than mitigate risks of self- serving conduct by lawyers. The Essay applies general concerns about class settlements and nonclass settlements to the particular problem of mass dispute mediation.

Arbitration Archetypes For Enhancing Access To Justice, Jill I. Gross

Fordham Law Review

In the second half of the twentieth century, the use of arbitration proliferated in the United States as part of a greater alternative dispute resolution (ADR) movement, with the promise that using ADR processes would, among other things, enhance disputants’ access to justice. Arbitration offers disputing parties a process to resolve their dispute, which, at least in theory, is known for decreased cost, increased speed, party control, privacy, and finality. These characteristics generally enhance parties’ access to justice because, as compared to litigation, barriers to entry are lower, outcomes are delivered more quickly, substantive outcomes are more equitable, and parties …

Adr, Dynamic (In)Justice, And Achieving Access: A Foreclosure Crisis Case Study, Lydia Nussbaum

Fordham Law Review

This Article proceeds in two parts. Part I argues for a dynamic, rather than fixed, conception of access to justice. It then explores how ADR processes, when placed in this dynamic framework, can create new forms of injustice and intensify preexisting ones. Part II presents a case study from the foreclosure crisis to illustrate how the features of ADR processes are especially well suited to respond to dynamic injustices. It further demonstrates how ADR design must evolve to respond to the dynamic system of (in)justice in which ADR processes operate.

Does Adr Feel Like Justice?, Jennifer W. Reynolds

Fordham Law Review

This Article contends that modern conflict spectacles, fueled by snap disputing dynamics and foisted upon the polity through media and social media, are so far afield from traditional ADR principles and practices that they may keep ADR from “feeling” like justice to many people. How people feel about alternative practices and processes will have an impact on whether they avail themselves of those methods in their own disputes. In other words, even if we had widely available, high-quality, and free ADR services available to everyone, we might still have an access to justice problem because those services would not be …

How Mediation Contributes To The “Justice Gap” And Possible Technological Fixes, Ellen Waldman

Fordham Law Review

This Essay’s basic premise is that mediation, as it currently is presented to pro se parties in the lower courts, risks significant depredations of justice. This risk flows directly from the ethics rules that either discourage or outright forbid mediators from providing disputants with exactly the information they need to make informed judgments as they bargain over housing, time with children, and scarce financial resources.

International Mediation And Covid-19: The New Normal?, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

What is the SIMC COVID-19 Protocol? The Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) has just launched the SIMC COVID-19 Protocol to provide businesses with an expedited, economical and effective route to resolve any international commercial disputes during the COVID-19 pandemic period. SIMC’s Covid-19 protocol is a great example of a leading mediation service provider reaching out to a market severely disrupted by Covid-19. The option for Singaporean and international parties to mediate online means for a highly accessible, time and cost effective path to resolve disputes that have emerged in the wake of Covid-19.

Singapore Case Law Series: Dispute Resolution Clauses In Msas, Nadja Alexander, Shou Yu Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this post on the Kluwer Mediation Blog, the Singapore Court of Appeal case of Retrospect Investment (S) Pte Ltd v Lateral Solutions Pte Ltd [2020] SGCA regarding questions on dispute resolution clauses in a mediated settlement agreement (MSA) is analysed.

Making Employment Arbitration Fair And Accessible, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Mandatory arbitration agreements require employees, as a condition of employment, to agree to arbitrate all employment disputes instead of filing court suits. The Supreme Court has approved such agreements but many labor experts oppose them. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to prohibit pre-dispute agreements, the common form for mandatory arbitrations. This article argues that the House bill would have the practical effect of virtually eliminating employment arbitration. Instead, proposals are presented for either legislative or judicial steps to ensure that employment arbitration is fair and accessible. Requirements would include: (1) voluntary agreements on the part of …

Arbitrarily Selecting Black Arbitrators, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Calls for increased diversity among arbitrators have surged with the growth of the employer movement, so-called mandatory arbitration, which requires employees to agree to arbitrate employment discrimination matters as a condition of employment. Despite good-faith efforts by neutral service providers, civil rights organizations, bar associations, and employer and employee groups to identify and address the need for more diverse arbitrators in mandatory arbitration, many commentators still lament that this diversity problem reflects negatively on access to justice. With the #MeToo movement’s focus in recent years on the lack of a public and transparent resolution for sexual harassment matters, as well …

Mediating Psychiatric Disability Accommodations For Workers In Violent Times, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Most workers in the United States are unhappy. Manifestations of that dissatisfaction can result in many workplace dilemmas when confronted with the situation of an employee dealing with mental illness. Fears of violence in our society have become prevalent with the increasing ferocity of high-profile and mass attacks in and out of the workplace. In believing mental illness contributes to some of these incidents, employers and co-workers have become extremely sensitive when a co-worker with a psychiatric disability has exhibited harassing or threatening behavior.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was amended by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), …

Bringing Transparency And Accountability (With A Dash Of Competition) To Court-Connected Dispute Resolution, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Among the various dispute resolution processes, mediation is the most widely institutionalized in American courts. As a result, this Article focuses primarily, although not exclusively, on the data collected and disseminated regarding court-connected mediation. The Article begins with a brief description of the institutionalization of mediation and other dispute resolution processes in the federal judicial system and in select U.S. state court systems. This narrative reveals substantial reference to the availability of mediation but a dizzying patchwork in terms of institutionalization and a significant lack of system-wide information in some states. The Article then focuses on the data that these …

The Coronavirus Crisis Provides An Opportunity To Adopt Better Systems For Licensing Lawyers Than The Bar Exam, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post discusses an ABA Journal article entitled, Bar Exam Does Little to Ensure Attorney Competence, Say Lawyers in Diploma Privilege State. It quotes a former Wisconsin State Bar president saying that “whether [Wisconsin law school graduates] passed a bar exam … has no bearing on their lawyering abilities or character” or ensures competency. They are “swords of Damocles” hanging over schools’ and students’ heads. They privilege some doctrinal courses and discourage students from taking practice-oriented courses because those courses will not help them pass the bar exam. Bar exams entrench a pedagogy based on memorization of a lot …

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal Contents & Masthead, Savannah Billingham-Hemminger

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In God We Trust (Unless We Change Our Mind): How State Of Mind Relates To Religious Arbitration, Skylar Reese Croy

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Arguably, binding religious arbitration agreements are constitutionally problematic because they hinder freedom of religion: They inhibit parties’ ability to change their beliefs. However, religious arbitration agreements also offer an outlet for the religiously inclined to further practice their beliefs. This Article offers a middle ground: If a party to a religious arbitration agreement changes religion, he or she can claim a “conscientious objector” status if he or she can prove the agreement violates his or her sincerely held religious beliefs. Courts are allowed to inquire into the sincerity of a person’s religious beliefs. The religious question doctrine — which restricts …

Mediation In Education For Foster Care, Anelise Powers

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

There are well over 400,000 children in foster care. Education can improve the well-being of foster children in critical development stages of life and support their economic success in adulthood. In recent years, the law has given greater priority to the education of foster children, and foster children are often eligible for additional services. However, a common trend in foster care research is that foster children, though eligible, do not always receive the services created to assist them. This paper will explore how improving mediation related to education and foster care can help maximize the impact of efforts to improve …

Compelling Parties To Mediate Investor-State Disputes: No Pressure, No Diamonds?, James M. Claxton

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

There was nothing preordained about arbitration becoming shorthand for investor-state dispute settlement. The ICSID system was built on the assumption that disputing parties would choose conciliation to settle their disputes. Those expectations went unrealized as arbitration rose to prominence, and since that time institutions, parties, and academics have observed that facilitated negotiation could play a greater role in resolving investor-state disputes. A number of domestic court systems have made mediation part of the fabric of dispute resolution through incentives and compulsions to mediate. Drawing on this experience, this manuscript considers how obstacles to the uptake of investor-state mediation might be …

Strategic Apologies In Medical Malpractice Mediation, Brittany Norman

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Mistakes happen, even in a field as serious and careful as medicine. As a result, some patients are left with unexpected results from their medical procedures. Once hospitals inform patients of medical mistakes or the patients inform the hospital, the patients' cases are moved to the legal realm, where they are viewed as a liability. This shift causes the patient to feel as though the hospital does not recognize him or her and prevents doctors from apologizing to their patients, despite their desire to do so. In an attempt to apologize without vulnerability to liability, medical professionals are sometimes instructed …

Aging Out Arbitration For Wrongful Death Suits In Nursing Homes, Courtney Dyer

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The first section of this article will discuss the significance of removing arbitration agreements from wrongful death claims and implementing mediation instead. The second section will detail the background of arbitration clauses in nursing homes. The third section will review state acts that have opposed the use of arbitration agreements for wrongful death claims in nursing homes. The fourth section will analyze cases that have challenged arbitration agreements in nursing homes for wrongful death claims. The fifth section will propose compulsory mediation and multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses as substitutes for arbitration clauses. Finally, the sixth section will consider potential objections …

No Money, Mo’ Problems: The Attitudes And Experiences Of Homeowners In Default, Tracy Douglas

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article discusses differences in foreclosure law, consumer protection, and mediation programs. Then, it will summarize relevant research on the topic of homeowners’ attitudes, financial knowledge, economic hardships, causes of default, and effectiveness of representation. Next, this article will outline the study’s design and methodology followed by the results from the data produced by the study. Then, the results will be analyzed. Finally, policy recommendations and reforms supported by the study’s evidence will be discussed.

Arbitration Of Health And Safety Issues In The Workplace: Employees Who Refuse Work Assignments Because Of Fear Of Aids Contagion, Madelyn C. Squire

Maine Law Review

Horror stories concerning the abuse suffered by the AIDS victim in the workplace are plentiful. There have been numerous reports about employees who have refused to work with or touch the AIDS worker, or use the same bathroom, telephone, water fountain, or pencil. It was reported that one AIDS victim was not even allowed to use his pregnant co-worker's word processor; she claimed she had once seen him sweat on the keyboard. Paul Cronan became painfully aware that his employer of twelve years, the New England Telephone Company, had breached his privacy by divulging in large group meetings of employees …